Workshop for the Fall Meeting
14th Annual Fall Meeting of the NCS-AAPT
IMPROVING THE TEACHING LABORATORY THROUGH DIY APPARATUS DEVELOPMENT(2 hrs)
Instructor-Dr William D. Brandon-UNCP
Cost $2.00
Day-Friday, October 23
Time 4.30-6.30 PM
Location-Oxendine Science Building, Room 3260
There are many key benefits to being actively engaged in apparatus development
for the teaching labs that are synergistic in promoting and maintaining a healthy physics department. Some of the
concrete benefits include:
1) Cost savings
2) Increased knowledge (students and instructor)
3) Stimulating more interest in research
4) Staying abreast of the latest cost effective technology
5) Forcing innovation
6) It's Fun!
We will demonstrate and discuss several different approaches to apparatus development ranging from significant
modifications of existing instruments to complete design and building of new ones and how to exploit various resources
in carrying out such endeavors. Below is a list of apparatus we have used over the past two years in our introductory
labs at UNCP.
Computer software
Wavedrivers: driver, amplifier and function generator for less than $50.00)
Soundtubes: speaker, tube, function generator and scope/spectrum analyzer (less than $20.00)
Simple mechanically driven oscillator to introduce the Lorentzian model (let it run while you lecture)
Interface boxes (very simple and very useful)
Exploiting light sources to upgrade Pasco optics benches
Laser modulator (simplest): direct and indirect methods
Cheap high current power supply
PARI Digital Resources
Presenter: Dr. Michael Castelaz - Pisgah Astronomical research Institute
Cost- $2.00
Day-Saturday, October 24
Time 2:30-3:30 PM
Location-Oxendine Science Building, Room TBA
Abstract for the Workshop
Via the Internet, remotely access the School of Galactic Radio Astronomy (SGRA; http://www.pari.edu/programs/teachers/smiley/
) 4.6-meter radio telescope located at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI). The radio telescope receiver
is designed for detection of 21-cm radiation emitted by the center of our galaxy and its spiral arms, supernova
remnants, regions of star formation and other celestial sources. Real-time control includes scheduling observing
time, source selection, pointing the telescope, and taking the measurements. Several labs have been developed and
include "Doppler Shift" and "Mapping Radio Sources". The labs and hands-on experience increase
students' information and technology skills while promoting student-directed critical thinking and problem solving.
This is accomplished by encountering real-world data and tools and putting them to work for the student.
A citizen science project called Stellar Classification Online - Public Exploration (SCOPE) (http://scope.pari.edu)
will be presented. With SCOPE, learners, as citizen scientists, explore the visible stellar sky. Digitized images
of archived astronomical photographic data taken over three decades are available through a user-friendly web interface
and designed for classification of stars. The data is real, and was used originally used to compile the Michigan
Spectral Survey based on several hundred thousand stars. However, nearly a million stars remain unclassified in
the archive. This is a perfect scenario for a citizen science project which teaches stellar evolution.
SGRA and SCOPE will be expanded for national use through the NSDL infrastructure, contributing a new, real-life
interactive component to current NSDL digital educational resources.
Renewable Energy Education Workshop (2 hrs)
enhancing your physics courses and your recruitment efforts
with renewable energy
Instructor-Dr. Robert Ehrlich, George Mason University
Cost- $2.00
Day-Saturday, October 24
Time Part One-8-8:45 am
Part Two-11:15 am-12noon
Location-Oxendine Science Building, Room TBA
Purpose and intended audience: This free workshop will help people interested in teaching about renewable energy
at the college or high school levels find resources to assist them in preparing their courses. No specific knowledge
of renewable energy is assumed.
Workshop schedule:
30 min:
Why physics teachers should get involved in R.E.
“Renewable Energy 101”
Student interest in the subject
Using renewable energy to enhance your physics teaching and recruitment efforts
Trends in renewable energy education nationally
Obstacles to developing renewable energy programs in colleges and universities
Career opportunities & future employment projections
30 min: Description of the rev-up project
60 min: The “work” part of the workshop which will feature a contest with a cash prize awarded to one workshop
member subject to certain rules described below.
Contest rules: The prize goes to the person who adds the largest number of new items to any of the eleven resource
categories (books, media, etc) in the rev-up database during a 60 min period. Items added to the under-populated
categories of “simulations” and “course notes” count double. In addition I will also double count evaluations submitted
under the “evaluate & improve this site” link provided you make a substantive suggestion.
General restrictions on entered items:
Duplicates. Items added must not duplicate items already there, and they can be in any of eleven resource categories.
In order to check for duplicates before you enter an item, just do an alphabetic sort of all items in a given category.
Level. Items added must be appropriate to high school or college level, and relevant to renewable energy. (Climate
change is slightly off-topic, for example, but energy conservation is OK, but not energy conservation in the “physics
sense.”.)
Restrictions on entries for specific resource categories:
Speakers. In the speakers category only add people whom you know for a fact are willing and able to talk to school
or other groups on renewable energy topics – you may include yourself if this describes you & you may add a
“review” of yourself along the lines of the “review” I added for myself
Student Projects. For the student projects category, only add actual “how to” descriptions of projects, not reports
on projects various groups have done.
Simulations. For the simulations category, only add simulations that are suitable to use in a class or as a project,
not for example some commercial energy simulations for the actual detailed design of a building. On the other hand,
simple calculators that can be used say to calculate your roof’s solar potential are fine.
Internships. These must be actual opportunities open to students anywhere, not a specific institution, and they
must be descriptions of the opportunity, not a news report about the work done by earlier students..